Observing, honouring on Remembrance Day in Langley Schools
In honour of Remembrance Day, students and staff across the Langley School District took part in a variety of observances and activities, including school-wide assemblies and visits to a local cemetery, cenotaph and other memorials.
At Langley Fine Arts School, visual arts students from Grade 8 to 12 found a creative way to honour veterans while also providing the opportunity for thought-provoking discussion and reflection.
At the school’s Mary Pratt Gallery, the school will host its latest exhibit, called War is Not Lovely, until late January. The impressive display includes more than 100 paintings of poppies – one by each student – as well soldiers’ boots, set side-by-side in pairs, made from cardboard and other materials by Grade 11 and 12 art majors. Grade 10 and 11 artists used papier-mache to create helmets, which are hung on an interior wall of the exhibit.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to kind of let people take a moment and kind of approach it as an art show, as a gateway, but also think about how we usually take things for granted,” said Noah, a Grade 12 visual arts major. “This is a good chance to remember.”
Art teacher Julia Bennett explained that the name of the show, War is Not Lovely, came about after she noticed the students created boots that looked too new, too shiny. The “War is not lovely” phrase was used to explain that the boots needed to look more worn.
“Some of the conversations we’ve been having with students is about just the privileges that we have, and even the privilege to have this space and make art at the school,” she said.
Elsewhere in the District, students and staff at Shortreed Community Elementary and Parkside Centennial Elementary, took part in the No Stone Left Alone project at Aberdeen Cemetery in nearby Abbotsford. The community event ensures that veterans laid to rest there have their headstones recognized with a poppy.